30 Jul, 2010

Quit smoking? Check. Eating healthily? Check. Hanging out with your friends and family as much as possible? Check. New research has found that being social could be critical to maintaining good health.

A study published in the journal PLoS Medicine, has found that individuals with strong family or friendship ties were shown to have a 50 per cent higher survival rate than their lonely counterparts.

The study examined the correlation between the social patterns and health of 308,849 participants over a period of 7.5 years. It was found that loneliness can be just as damaging to your health as smoking and alcohol consumption.

When compared with lack of exercise and obesity, being lonely was found to be just as detrimental (and in some cases more so) to one’s health.

Julianne Holt-Lunstad, study author and psychologist at Brigham Young University in Utah, said that we need to be more aware of the impact our relationships have on our overall wellbeing.

"We take relationships for granted as humans,” she told Guardian.co.uk,“That constant interaction is not only beneficial psychologically but directly to our physical health.”
 
Looks like it could be time to throw your next big party – all in the name of health of course.


By Edwina Carr